Thursday, 30 November 2017

Slovak public opinion poll on development issues



An opinion poll on development issues was participated by 1017 respondents selected via quota sampling method (by sex, age, education, nationality, size of settlement and county). From 7 to 13 November 2017, they answered 6 survey questions. Three of them had the same or similar wording as the questions asked in the polls made by our project partners and in the Special  Eurobarometer no. 441 conducted in autumn 2015 to see how the opinion of Slovak pubic has changed and to be able to compare the results obtained in different countries. The rest of questions were related to Slovak ODA, migration and Slovak education system.

1. Have you ever heard about the Sustainable Development Goals?


Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
Yes and I know a lot about it
0,6
Yes, but I only have partial information
5,1
Yes, but I know almost nothing about it
8,6
No, I never heard of it
85,7


Eurobarometer 2015
[ % ]
Yes, I know what they are
5
Yes, but I do not really know what they are
22
No, I do not know
73

The number of Slovaks who do not know what SGDs are has risen. It can be interpreted as the influence of EYD 2015 and SDG and Paris climate summits that had high media coverage that time. Afterwards this quite technical agenda slid out of the most media and thus out of public focus.

2. In your opinion, is it very important, fairly important, not very important or not at all important to help people in developing countries?
Eurobarometer 2015
[ % ]
Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
Very important
22
9,0
Fairly important
57
50,7
Not very important
15
21,3
Not at all important
4
10,8
I do not know
2
8,1

There was a significant drop of 20 % in number of people that find important (both, very and fairly) to help people in developing countries important. The number of those who have the opposite opinion (help is not very/not at all important) has risen by 13%.

3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? As an individual, you can play a role in tackling poverty in developing countries.
Eurobarometer 2015
[ % ]
Totally agree
38
Totally disagree
58
I do not know
4


Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
Totally agree
5,9
Fairly agree
29,0
Fairly not agree
33,9
Not at all agree
23,3
I do not know
7,9

Although we used a bit different scaling of the answers the opinion of people have not changed. The difference is at the level of statistical deviation.

4.The Slovak Republic provides developing countries with development and humanitarian aid under the Slovak Aid brand. This form of assistance is also a tool for building a reputation of Slovakia in the world. Having this in mind, which of the following statements describes your opinion best?
Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
We should increase the amount on ODA
13,3
We should decrease the amount on ODA
13,8
We do not need to change the amount on ODA
54,6
I do not know
18,4

5. What is the most important role of the education system nowadays? You can select more answers.


Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
prepare students for life in fastly changing world
63,1
prepare students for specific employers
51,5
teach students to work with finances
35,2
teach students to think critically
26,5
other
2,2
I do not know
2,7

6. To what extent are you afraid of migrants and migration to Slovakia?
Opinion poll 2017
[ % ]
very afraid
30,2
fairly afraid
42,3
fairly not afraid
20,3
not at all afraid
5,0
I do not know
2,3
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Wednesday, 29 November 2017

PIN activities August – November 2017

Bulletin – Somalia 
In September, People in Need published the third issue of the bulletin Rozvojovka. Just recently, Czech journalist Lenka Klicperová visited Somalia and she wrote a main story for Rozvojovka about the current situation in Somalia - a country, which is still largely paralysed by al-Shabaab’s militias and by great poverty. We also interviewed Arthur F. Sniegoň, who moved from Czech city Třinec to Africa so that he could help to save elephants in Chad. Readers could also read about Czech-Ethiopian relations. Already in the 1980s, Czechoslovakia helped to build the electric power station, breweries or water wells. Ethiopian students went to Czechoslovakia to study university of life sciences or archaeology.   
Bulletins are sent to relevant decision makers, i.e. members of Czech national Parliament and Czech representatives in European Parliament, Ministries' officials and key development experts, scholars and NGO representatives. 

Media Supplement "Czech Republic helps" in Deník
On the 26th of September, People in Need published a media supplement "Czech Republic helps" in Deník, the biggest regional and the second most read newspaper in Czech republic. The supplement was published, when People in Need celebrated its 25th anniversary. It was twenty-five years ago, when a group of war journalists and volunteers came together and decided to provide help in crisis situations. This group of enthusiasts grew into an organization that has 1,800 employees working in 32 countries with a budget of 1.7 billion Czech crowns (64 million Euros). In the course of its existence, the organisation has operated in 54 countries and helped more than 18 million people.In development aid provided in 20 countries, the focus today is primarily on transferring know-how and supporting the most vulnerable people, who are learning to face up to adverse natural and social conditions and developing their ability to help themselves. The supplement was dedicated to the  development activities of People in Need from Afghanistan, Angola to Philippines.
Journalists from Aktuálně.cz in Ukraine and Cambodia
In September, journalist Ondřej Soukup from Aktuálně.cz went to Ukraine, where he visited People in Need's development projects. He wrote about the current situation in eastern Ukraine and how people are struggling to live at the front line.

In October, journalist Simona Fendrychová from Aktuálně.cz travelled to Cambodia. In Cambodia, she visited health and livelihoods development projects of People in Need. How we fight dangerous superstitions, which harms mothers and children? Or how are local communities being trained to be better prepared for floods? The readers could find the answers in Simona's articles.

Czech TV in Moldova and Angola
In November, Linda Bartošová from Czech Tv spend a week in Moldova with People in Need. Moldova is known as the poorest country in Europe. The journalist interviewed young people about their prospects and where they see their country in the future

Dana Zlatohlávková, reporter from Czech Tv, went to the last journalist trip organised by People in Need. She visited Angola - country, which went through a historical political change this year. President Dos Santos stepped down after 38 years in power. How is the political transition going on? How is Angola responding to the influx of refugees from neighbouring DR Congo? The Czech viewers could find the answers in her stories. 


Czech Radio in Mongolia, Myanmar and Ethiopia
'Three in the world' is the name of Czech Radio audio-documentary series. Jiří Slavičínský in Mongolia, Brit Jensen in Myanmar and Ivan Studený in Ethiopia spend a week with local families. Each one shot an audio documentary on different topic. In Mongolia, Jiří focused on the preparation for dzud, Brit covered the issue of child abuse in Myanmar and Ivan experienced how is it like to live with a scarce water in Ethiopia. An hour long documentaries will be broadcast in December and in the beginning of 2018 on all Czech Radio's stations.  


Media analysis: Media coverage of developing countries and Czech development cooperation in 2015 and 2016
In November, PIN published a media analysis written by Sandra Štefaniková from Charles University in Prague. The analysis focused on media coverage of developing countries and development cooperation in Czech media between 2015 and 2016 and the comparison with the media analysis of 2013 and 2014 (link here). The results show that Czech media cover the topic mostly in the daily news - so called hard news. The news accounted for 76% of the analysed data. The analysed topic was mostly to be found in the online media, less in the print media and minimally in radio or television. In comparison to the previous years, the increase of online media coverage is significant. 
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Tuesday, 28 November 2017

Campaign by People in Need – “Czechs, thank you!” People from all over the world express thanks on Czech billboards. Campaign goes viral.

Hand written messages in Arabic, Ukrainian, Dari and Burmese appeared in the streets of Prague, Brno, and Ostrava early this month. The message was “Czechs, thank you.” Among the authors were Amal, a young girl from Syria; Mohamad, a teacher from Afghanistan; Mr. Rudolf, from Eastern Ukraine; and volunteer, Thet Maw, from Myanmar. Through this campaign, organised by Czech NGO People in Need, they had a chance to thank the Czech Republic and its people for their humanitarian and development aid. Their full stories, in addition to three more from Georgia, Ethiopia and Cambodia, are published on the website www.cesidekujem.cz.

News of the billboards, written in these foreign scripts, immediately went viral. People swapped messages and photos asking who had written them and to whom they were addressed. “The billboards are not only in Prague 4 - I saw them also in Černy most, Prosek...Prague is full of them. It must have happened yesterday...Nobody saw who put them up? I am afraid - even when it means Czechs thank you - it can be a sign...where, when and how…,” posted someone on Facebook. People and media focussed primarily on the Arabic message, even though if it was in other languages too.

A week later, NGO People in Need revealed that the messages were written by ordinary people from countries where PIN provides humanitarian and development support. “The organization, People in Need, wants to highlight the situation of people who face poverty, war, and natural disasters. For 25 years we have been improving access to education, clean water, healthcare, livelihoods, and providing basic humanitarian aid such as food. We help real people,” said Simon Panek, director of People in Need.

Since its creation the NGO has helped around 18 million people in more than 50 countries. “Through this campaign we are showing the stories of people we have helped. We decided to connect people who would probably never meet - the donors and beneficiaries,” said Jan Mrkvička, director of PIN Relief and Development Department.
On the website - www.cesidekujem.cz - you can find stories from Syria, Afghanistan, Barma, Ukraine, Georgia, Cambodia and Ethiopia. People in Need provides aid in 22 countries.

Turunge Misebo from Ethiopia also expressed thanks saying: “Thanks to People in Need, I don’t have to carry water for long distances. It is a big relief for me.” Czechs have been working in Ethiopia for over 10 years. In this region where Misebo lives they have helped to provide access to water for more than 100.000 people. Children and teachers from war-torn Aleppo sent their ‘thank yous' as well. Here, Czechs support a kindergarten called ‘Hope’, where at least for a while children can forget the horrors of the war around them. People in Need has been working in Syria since the beginning of the conflict.


“Through these individual stories we show how our help is working. We help people in poor countries so that they can help themselves. We support their education or we remove the obstacles which hinder them to break the cycle of poverty,” explains Jan Mrkvička.
The team at Bistro Agency came up with the idea of the campaign “Czechs, thank you.” “In the first phase, we wanted to raise a public discussion and curiosity. The Arabic language caused the biggest agitation even though Arabic was only one of the languages used in the campaign besides Dari, Burmese, and Ukrainian,” said Michala Langerová, from Bistro Agency. The messages appeared on nearly fifty billboards around the cities. “In the second phase of the campaign, we present the stories, which are powerful, exactly because they are real. They illustrate that development and humanitarian aid matters.”


The billboards were provided for free and the campaign’s collaborators worked pro bono. The minimal costs were covered by the Media4Development project, whose goal is to raise awareness about development and humanitarian aid. Contributions from private and individual donors were not used - these are allocated for the aid for  people, like those, who wrote the messages, “Czechs, thanks you”.    

The campaign quickly went viral. Czech celebrities and influencers have been supporting it on social media and started to make fun of unjustifiable fear it initiated. (e.g. TMBK on Facebook)


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